Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeke
I have a whole drawer full of scrapers. If they made it, I probably have it. The 4 edge one is not a great tool but one that you need. And they are cheap enough that having one is not a waste of money.
To sharpen I hold it opposite what Jeff shows and have the grinding wheel turning towards the handle. This creates a nasty burr that you would not use on anything but a rough house project like a peeling window sill. I find that the serrated edge is just a little nastier but I never use it.
I do use a file on those to keep from having to walk to the bench grinder. I used to take a bench grinder with me when I was painting in the '70's. 4 and 5' angle grinders were just hitting the market and when I got one that was all I needed to dress the the scraper.
You can experiment with angles until you find one that works best for you at whatever angle of attack you use. One side of the square blade has ears for corners and I use that side up before the others.
Carbide scrapers are worth the money but not unless you buy a green carbide wheel. You can make those wicked sharp and they do lose the edge just like the steel ones, but they will still work well a lot longer than the steel before dulling out.
Yeah, a file is a must on a card scraper to keep the edge dead straight. Lots of YT's one how to create a nice burr.
I like grinding wheels rated for using the side. I will gently use a side of a wheel even though they say to not do that. If all you are doing is lightly touching a scraper blade, you're safe enough. But you didn't hear that from me. Get the side rated one and have confidence.
Or use your angle grinder but not on the card scraper.
Another use for cards is to make profile scrapers for moldings. 300 years ago they made moldings by hand, sometimes with a plane and sometimes with a free blade.
Watch scratch shaping:
Works well with hardwoods and tends to tear at softwoods, but it can be done. I have used heat and a custom made scratch tool to remove paint and varnish from detailed work as well as create new.
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Don't drop those carbide scrapers, they will shatter. I bought a couple from Festool for scraping edgebanging. Works damn great and stays sharp for a long time. One of my guy dropped it on the concrete floor. Poof, 90 bucks gone. We use the side of the grinders all the time. I normally don't tell people to do it but if they do, its usually something small.